296 players want to compete in Wels, and the age difference between the oldest and the youngest player will be considerable: There are a whole 53 years between the oldest participant at 84 and the youngest at 31. Among the women, there are only 44 years between the oldest at 77 and the youngest at 33. The average age of the men on the opening day is 62.64 years. The women are then exactly two years younger at 60.64.
There are many players who have not been affected by Parkinson’s for long. Three players, however, have already been diagnosed in the last millennium. One player from Germany has already been a fighter against Parkinson’s for 33 years – in Wels he will do so in the men’s class 3. For the men, the Parkinson’s diagnosis on the opening day of Wels is on average 9.29 years ago, for the women only slightly less at 9.07 years.